Apparatus for making wire-glass.



l PATENTED MAR. 1-2, 1907.- i A. JBALDWIN, TUSIOR MAKIN PPLIoATIoN FILEDNo APPARA G WIRE GLASS. V. 29, 19.05.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

- Alalcwin, g4/Wenko@- UNTTEDl STATES PATENT CEETCE.`

APPARATUS FOR MAKING WIRE-GLASS.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented March 12, 1907.

Application filed November 29f1905fSerial BT01289589.

To a/ZZ whom/ it may concern,.-

Be it known Jthat I, ARTHUR J. BALDWIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at East Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for MakingVire-Glass, of which the' following is a specification, reference beinghad to the drawing accompanying and forming part of the same.

My invention relates to the manufacture of sheet-glass having anembedded strengthening structure known generally as wireglass, and hasfor its object to provide an apparatus for producing such glass in anexpedi tious and economical manner.

vTo these ends the inventionlconsists of the novel features,arrangements of parts, and combinations.;cfg elements hereinafterdescribed, and morefp articul arly pointed out in the claims.

The'inventionl'will be more-readily understood in connection withthe'janneXed drawing, in whichis shownaconvenient embodiment in somewhatdiagrammatic form, whereind Figure 1 shows the preferred apparatus inlongitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a modification, also in longitudinaisection. y

The sheet of glass is formed on arching-sun face-that is, a surface uponwhich the sheet is rolled out-as, for example, a horizontallymovingtable of suitable character. Such a table is shown at A, Fig. l.Cooperating therewith and spaced therefrom. a distance somewhat greaterthan the thickness of the finished sheet is a roll B, the roll beingdriven, preferably, at the same peripheral speed as the lineal speed ofthe table.

In front of the roll B is a finishing-roll C, driven at the sameperipheral speed as the former, but spaced from the table a distanceequal to the thickness of the finished sheet.

The operation of the machine will now be readily understood. On thetable back of the roll B is deposited a mass of molten or plastic glassof the proper consistency, and over the rear of the roller ispassed asheet of wire fabric D, drawn from any suitable supply7 as the reel E.As the mass of plastic glass is carried under the roll B by the forwardmovement of the table it is formed by these elements into a thick sheet,as indicated at F, with the fabric at or slightly below the uppersurface thereof. This sheet, carried forward by the table, strikes thefinishingroll C, and the sheet being too thick to pass under the rollthe surplus glass is squeezed through the meshes of the fabric behindthe roll, where it banks up, as indicated at G. This banked-up mass isspread'over the wire fabric by the roll C to form the upper layer of thefinishedH sheets-gf;Y This squeezing or forcing of.` the surplusglassfgthrough the meshes of the fabric and the spreading or rolling ofit over the fabric goes on continuously until the sheet is complete.

A modification of the machine is shown in Fig. 2. In this case there areseveral rolls (indicated by C C2 C3 C4) to effect the formation of theupper layer. The roll B applies the wire fabric to the mass of glass,the first finishing-roll C squeezes a small amount of glass through thefabric and spreads it over the same, the second rolls C2 C3 operate in asimilar way, thus making the upper layer thicker, while the last roll C4adds still more glass to the upper layer and turns out the finishedsheet.

It is of course evident that any number of forcing or finishing rollsmay be employed as desired, though only three are shown.

To those skilled in the art it will be apparent that the physicalembodiment of the invention may be modified in various ways withoutdeparture from the spirit of the invention as defined by the followingclaims.

T claim- 1. In an apparatus for making wire-glass, the combination witha rolling-surface, a finishing-roll, and a supply-reel, of a pluralityof rolls interposed between the reel and iinishing-roll and coactingwith material under treatment, said interposed rolls being arranged atvarying distances from the rollingsurface.

2. In an apparatus for making wire-glass and in combination arolling-surface having a rectilinear movement, a finishing-roll mountedthereabove and having a rolling movement in the same general directionas the rolling-surface, a wire-supply and a guideroll therefor, saidguide-roll also having movement in the same general direction as therolling-surface and having its surface separated from therolling-surface by a lOO greater distance than that between thepeanother and at gradually-increasing disriphery of the finishing-rolland the rollingtanoes from the rolling-surface, said rolls eosurface. lacting with the material under treatment;

3. In an apparatus for making Wire-glass, ARTHUR J. BALDWIN. 5 thecombination with a rolling-surface, a in- I Witnesses:

ishing-roll, and a Wire-supply7 of a plurality I y M. LAWSON DYER,

of rolls arranged in Close juxtaposition to one l S. S. DUNHAM.

